Les Bowen

STAFF WRITER

Les Bowen has covered the Eagles since 2002. Before that, he covered the Flyers for 13 years. He came to the Daily News from the Charlotte Observer in May 1983, just as the Sixers were winning the NBA championship. He thought, "Gosh, this sort of thing must happen all the time here."

Jason Babin was bear hunting in Cold Bay, Alaska, when the Eagles began full-team OTAs last week, as previously reported. But Babin said Wednesday he'd intended to be back at NovaCare in time for the start of the optional workouts; bad weather pinned him down in a remote spot, where he and a hunting guide had to extend their stay several days.

"When the weather blows in, you don't have a lot of options," Babin said after arriving for his first OTA session, on a humid morning in sprinkling rain. "There were times when the tent bent in so hard, the tent was in our sleeping bags. There was snow drifting over."

Babin said he was upset he missed last week's action, though coaches didn't seem upset. "I don't miss stuff. I'm not late," he said.

Babin went to Alaska to hunt brown bear. Saw some, didn't end up shooting any, he said. "Didn't see the one I wanted," he said.

So what'd he do, mostly?

"Survived," he said. "You've got to pack in your food, which are freeze-dried meals. You got to hike up a glacier with snowshoes to get your water. You gotta boil it. If you fall through and get wet while out hiking, no one's gonna come dry you off with a towel. You've got to survive on your wits ... Some of the most extreme climates in the U.S."

After OTAs are over and before training camp, Babin has another adventure planned, he said. He wants to run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Babin doesn't think he'll get gored.

"Bulls can't turn the corner on cobblestone. As long as you're on the inside, you're going to be all right,' he said. "I broke the tape down like game film."

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Defensive tackle Mike Patterson, still recovering from surgery to untangle blood vessels in his brain, worked off to the side Wednesday with safety Colt Anderson, who is rehabbing his ACL.

Patterson said it would be up to Eagles coach Andy Reid to say whether Patterson will be ready for training camp in two months, but he said: "I have a feeling we'll be ready to go. It'll be exciting and we'll see what happens."

Patterson said the scary brain episode hasn't changed his thinking about football.

"I still have the same fire in my stomach...I still have the same excitement. Every time I go out on the field I get excited," he said.